Full Name
Chaun Powell
Title
Group Vice President, Strategic Supplier Engagement
Organization
Premier
Speaker Bio
Chaun Powell, Group Vice President (GVP) of Growth and Innovation, has over 18 years of experience in strategic leadership, commercialization, marketing, national accounts, business and corporate development, and group purchasing organization (GPO) negotiation.

As the GVP of Growth and Innovation, Powell is responsible for the leadership over the Strategic Supplier Engagement team (SSE), Supplier Diversity and EPP teams, and key innovations within the GPO. Named one of Forbes Top Ten Entrepreneurs to Watch in Healthcare, Powell is focused on creating new businesses and innovative offerings to drive growth in alignment with Premier’s mission to improve the health of our communities. Powell also serves as a key partner on the evolving Innovation Celebration, Breakthroughs, Supplier Collaboratives, and other industry trade events.

Prior to his current position, Powell served as the GVP and GM of Remitra, Premier’s eInvoicing and ePayables platform. In this role, Powell was responsible for setting the strategic direction and realizing the tactical execution creating this new business unit and integrating the acquisition of Invoices Delivery Services (IDS). He was also formerly the GVP of Strategic Supplier Engagement and was responsible for all supplier relationships across 15,000 healthcare suppliers and 1,300 contracted suppliers.

In addition to his formal responsibilities, Powell also serves as the Executive Co-sponsor of the Premier Employee Resource Group for Disabled Employees and Allies and has participated in Premier’s mentorship program as a mentor since its inception.

Powell spent his first three years at Premier leading the Strategic Supplier Engagement team where he was responsible for providing leadership to the supply chain services team working directly with the suppliers to recognize value for members and drive growth for the suppliers. He also led the Disaster Preparedness and Response platform for 4,000 acute facilities and over 200,000 nonacute facilities across the Premier membership nationally.

Prior to joining Premier, Powell served as the National Director of Sales and Business Development at Cardinal Health where he was responsible for the business development and sales strategy for the orthopedic business unit. He also created and managed the Orthopedic Episode of Care program, led the Orthopedic Surgical Advisory Board and integrated four external companies and three business units into the design of an orthopedic bundled payment solution. In this role, Powell increased topline growth by 102 percent year over year while decreasing expenses by over 40 percent, resulting in a net impact on bottom line that was a 242 percent increase in profitability.

Powell also previously co-launched Emerge Medical, a medical device manufacturing firm bringing over 5,000 products through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance and commercialization process in under three years. In his spare time, Powell is an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics at Denver University's Daniels College of Business and the Latino Leadership Institute.

Powell received his Bachelor of Science in business management from the Leeds School of Business at University of Colorado and his MBA from the Daniels College of Business at Denver University. In addition, Powell serves on the Philanthropy Committee for the Children's Hospital Colorado Foundation. He takes great pride in his four children, his wife and the Midwest work ethic he developed growing up surrounded by dairy farms in northeastern Ohio.
Chaun Powell